I aim to misbehave

The United States is very wealthy country. Contrary to the popular belief outside the country the health care here sucks to no end. It has been a much debated topic recently. Universal health care, which the President is touting, I am afraid won’t work. The compromise being worked between the present administration and Republicans to impose mandatory health insurance will only make matters worse. This will only drive away more companies and jobs to other countries. Anyone with a small business here knows that compliance costs are ridiculously high. Add to that mandatory health insurance and you have perfect recipe for the worst case scenario.

Universal health care won’t work in the United States. People who compare United States to other countries need to realize that unlike other countries the population here is a lot higher, the population growth rate is almost as high as India and add to that the largest immigrant population every year. You don’t need be an expert economist to realize that the costs would only mean one thing higher taxes. With the US loosing out to developing countries, who for uninitiated now have highly skilled labourers, with respect to tax breaks would only make these countries more and more attractive everyday for companies in the United States.

From where I come from, Bengaluru, health care is mostly a non issue. India does have universal health care but it has lot to be desired, the quality of services provided there is what you would expect from a third world country. So why is it a non issue? It so happens that the solution problem comes from private enterprises and not the government.  Let’s consider Narayana Hrudayalaya.  It is a state of the art facility that treats people with heart ailments. The elite , the rich, the poor all them use it. If you can’t afford to pay you are not turned down. You don’t need to have an insurance policy. So if you are think they must have some incompetent doctors you are wrong they are some of the best. A lot them have trained, worked in this very country. They have successfully implemented Tele-medicine. People from neighbouring countries use this service.

There is no way a country like India or the United States could provide good universal health care.  Ironically a once socialist country is now teaching capitalism to the one it learnt from by providing a fertile ground for entrepreneurs.

While the debate continues here is an idea for people in the United States to reduce their health care costs. Only a few people know that with a HSA plan you get health care services outside the United States. If you need to get a major surgery you better off getting it done in India. Your costs will be minimal and you can use tax free dollars from HSA account. Better yet the insurance company will incur any expenses beyond your deductible.

You can read more about Narayana Hrudayala here and here .